A former 9-hole golf course in the Lake Forest subdivision in Daphne may soon become a city-maintained greenspace park, offering walking and fitness trails.

Over the last nine months, the city has been working with the Lake Forest Property Owners Association to iron out an agreement to lease 33 acres of the old "Lake Nine" golf course on the south side of the subdivision's lake.

The golf course has not been used for several years due to high maintenance costs and storm damage to bridges that limited access to some of the property. The subdivision still maintains a separate, 18-hole championship golf course.

"If you can imagine Central Park in New York and what a great asset that is, we could have something very similar in the city of Daphne," said Councilman Ron Scott, who has spearheaded the lease negotiations in his district. "There are certain activities that we can have. It's basically very non-intense uses -- trails, walking trails. We might have some Frisbee golf in an appropriate area."

With more than 9,000 residents living in over 3,000 homes, the north Daphne subdivision makes up a large percentage of the city's population and is the largest subdivision in Alabama.

The Lake Forest POA had agreed to a lease the property for $1 a year over 30 years and the city would have to pay the property taxes on the three parcels that make up the 33 acres. Either party would be able to cancel the lease with a 180-day written notice, and if prompted by the property owners association, the board would have to reimburse the city for any capital improvements, less depreciation.

During the negotiation process, the property owners association added a stipulation that requires it to approve any proposed improvements to the park in order to protect itself from a large payout if the agreement was dissolved.

Councilman Robin LeJeune said he had reservations about the POA board's blanket oversight and offered a middle-ground amendment to the agreement, adding a $50,000 yearly threshold that once reached, would require board approval.

"I think that would alleviate us, and it gives them protection on any major projects," LeJeune said. "Then if we wanted to go in and put in the walking paths and things like that, which I know they want us to do, it keeps us from getting into a waiting for them to approve something minimal."

With a 3-2 vote last week, the council authorized Mayor Dane Haygood to enter into the lease agreement. Councilman Joe Davis voted against it due to concerns about not knowing how much the city will pay in property taxes, and Councilman Randy Fry said he wanted more information. Councilman John Lake abstained since he lives in Lake Forest, and Pat Rudicell did not attend the meeting.

Despite voting against the motion, Davis and Fry said they supported the creation of the park.

"I'm favor of leasing this Lake Forest property to expand our recreation activities where we can," Fry said. "I do share the concerns that Mr. Davis brought up and maybe this contract needs to be discussed and tweaked a little bit more. But I think it's a great opportunity, and I'm excited about the potential there."

Davis said, "I, too, am in favor of the Lake Forest project. As a businessman, I'm just not used to making decisions without numbers."

Haygood said the concept was great and he would thoroughly review the document that was negotiated between attorneys.

"It's going to be a win-win, there's not doubt," Haygood said after the meeting on March 16. "With that open land area, the way it's configured between homes, it lends itself to a lot of things. ... To take what's kind of an eroded amenity for the Lake Forest and turn it into a positive for both them and the general public will be a good thing."

City Hall has received complaints from some Lake Forest residents concerned about the unkempt grounds as well as mice and other vermin, Haygood said. "Now that we can move past that and keep it regularly maintained, it will be good for everybody," he said.

The Lake Forest Property Owners Association recently elected three new members to its nine-member board of directors. The new board will have to approve the revised contract.

"We've been working on it for a long time," Scott said. "It's probably been nine months that we've been trying to get something done with it. We're pretty close. Hopefully, it will happen soon."

Once the lease is finalized, the plan is to begin landscaping right away and to take an inventory of the existing golf cart paths.

"There's already partially paved golf cart paths that kind of follow the boundaries," Public Works Director Richard Johnson said. "So, we're hoping that we can in pretty short order do some connectivity of those and make a loop all the way around the outer boundary. I think we'll be able to do all the grading work and all the layout work, and under our asphalt contract, we'll go out for quotes from an asphalt company to lay a six-foot continuous ribbon."

Long-term projects could include some drainage improvements, according to Johnson.